Golf instruction - what is essential to the swing and what is merely style?

Golf Blogs | Andrew Rice Golf

Golf Instruction - What is essential to the swing and what is merely a matter of style? A page for everybody who loves golf! Here I will discuss the swing, architecture, equipment, players and the general state of the game.

It's FREE! This is something I'm very excited to share with you as I know it's going to upgrade our ability to interact and connect. I have partnered with an amazing technology company called Edufii. Edufii is the social network for skills development. It is going to enable us to connect and collaborate more efficiently and effectively to improve your golf and for 90 days my Andrew Rice All Access Preview Team is completely FREE of charge. No more links or long videos, just 'bite sized' nuggets of information to help us connect and learn in a distraction free mobile environment. I’ll be sharing drills, practice info, updates, challenges and much, much more all directly to your mobile device instead of using email, Facebook etc. To join theAndrew Rice All Access Preview Team click the link below and create your account, then be sure to download the app too. Signing up should take you about 60 seconds!

Edufii is currently only offering this opportunity to a limited number of coaches so I’m thrilled to be on the forefront of this cutting­-edge mobile technology while bringing you a whole new level of interactive coaching.

This promises to be an absolute game changer for all involved plus a whole lot of fun! Since we’re just getting started, this program is FREE for the next 90 days. Join today and experience this revolutionary way to stay connected.

Have you ever struggled with shots that just don't seem to go where they should? The ball always seems to leak right or hook left. Today's post strives to get at the root cause of why your golf swing is so reliant on timing.

One of the more frequent mistakes I see golfers make is to stand up or lose their body angles through impact - the "stand and deliver" move! The loss of body angles or posture causes the body to stop rotating and as a result the hands now assume the responsibility of squaring the clubface. Remember - if the body does not rotate to clubface square, then the hands will help out. This move is very difficult to time, especially under pressure, and often leads to the hands overworking or flipping through impact. If the hands rotate the clubface too early the shot misses left and if they're a touch late, then the shot misses right.

Consistently straight shots are achievable only when the clubface is being squared via the rotation of the body through impact.

An indicator that you are losing your body angles through impact is that your divots (if you are even taking any) are always deeper on the outside than the inside. They are toe deep. (A big reason why an "active" fitting is not always the best way to go!)

A good method to ensure that the body continues it's rotation through the hit is to work on maintaining your posture or spine angle that is established at address. Hit little pitch type shots with an eight iron trying to feel that your torso stays down over the ball while clearing through the strike. A good feel is to try and sense that the hands are low through impact - they should feel like they are actually lower at impact than they were at address. You may even have the sense that the toe of the club is higher at impact than the heel. Try this DRILL

This is something that all of golf's greatest ball strikers have in common - Nick Price, Lee Trevino and Ben Hogan all did a fantastic job of maintaining their posture through impact. This allowed them to take the hands, and timing, out of the equation - a recipe for consistently good golf shots.

This summer I have the privilege of teaching at Atlantic Golf Club in Bridgehampton, NY. I will be here for June through mid September before returning to Berkeley Hall. I am very excited to be working for Rick Hartmannand with fellow instructor Mark Costaregni. Should you be interested in getting together for a lesson in NY please contact me at andrew(at)andrewricegolf.com or via my mobile at (843)247-4688. All my contact information remains the same as before.

I apologize for the slow down in posting the last two weeks, but please check back for course photos and reviews of National Golf Links, Maidstone, Sebonack, Shinnecock Hills, East Hampton, Friar's Head and of course Atlantic. In the upcoming weeks I will also be posting numerous new instructional articles and several new YouTube videos.

Welcome to my blog and thanks for checking in with andrewricegolf.com! It is an exciting week on the golf calendar and I am honored to launch this site in conjunction with the first major of the year - the Masters!
I would like to encourage anyone who loves the game and is keen on improving to subscribe to my RSS feed using any feed reader (even email!) by clicking on the subscribe button to the right. Every few days I will post on all things golf - with a definite slant toward swing mechanics and philosophy (sounds intimidating doesn't it?). Many of you who know me, know that I am not a fan of deeply complex or intricate swing jargon (what with being fairly simple minded and all!) and will thus strive to keep it real - real as in, this is something that is simple to do, easy to comprehend, and it works!

I will also sound off on my opinions pertaining to course architecture (old school rules!), teaching technology, PGATour players (these guys do not know how good they have it!), where golf is headed (?), fantasy golf, golf fashion (beware the white shirt and khaki brigade...) and a quandry of other meaningless topics that include the word golf.

My thoughts on the changes at Augusta National and the Masters are echoed here in this quote from Ben Crenshaw:

(I hope that Billy Payne will slowly get the course back to the old risk-reward beauty that it used to be!)

The old Augusta was a tightrope, where risks were encouraged but a fall could hurt. "You always felt at Augusta you could take a chance on something, whether it was a tee ball or a second shot," Crenshaw says. "You had more room to play, and more people could play dangerously. It was totally different from any challenge in the world." To Crenshaw, the narrowing of the fairways from the equivalent of wide boulevards to country lanes altered things dramatically. "The second cut on lots of holes—that's first and foremost, because the course went from here to like this," he says, moving his hands very close together. "I think they needed to do something in the way of length, [but] I wouldn't have constricted it as much.

"There is no question it has become more of a defensive proposition," he continues. "The thing that set Augusta apart forever is that it's exciting and theatrical. People would pull off shots, but the flip side of that is that if you failed—and Jones wrote about this—it would tax you mentally. If you failed, it had a big effect on you. All I remember is how I felt there as a player [in my prime]. I hope the guys today are doing the same gyrations that we did. That, to me, is the question.

Andrew Rice Golf

Andrew Rice Golf. Providing golf instruction for all levels of golfers. Here you will find advice on golf instruction, golf course management and golf tips. Andrew Rice Golf is located at the Westin Savannah Harbor Resort and Golf Club. Three-Day Golf School information may also be found here.